This was seconded by Taylor O’Malley, chief risk officer at Balyasny Asset Management, who told attendees at the Eurohedge Summit in Paris that he sometimes cuts portfolio managers’ capital in half if they’re having marital problems, on the grounds that the emotional distraction leads to a lack of focus.

Danny Kessler, chief executive of MET traders, a financial futures group specializing in proprietary trading, said he’s witnessed the damage that a messy divorce can do to traders’ performance.

'Divorce makes people trade their P&L', said Kessler. 'Instead of saying I’ll buy that security at 99 and hold it until it reaches 101, they buy it at 99 and decide to hold it until they’ve made $100k. They trade their P&L figure rather than their position and stop making rational decisions.

'I suspect this is because they know they’re in danger of losing half their net wealth and are trying to recoup that', he added.